A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on government purchase on Wednesday approved 16 proposals, including two on purchasing edible oils from S Alam Super Edible Oil Ltd, a subsidiary of the controversial S Alam Group.
S Alam Super Refinery will supply 1.1 crore litres of palm oil at Tk 130 per litre under a direct purchase method.
Finance adviser Saleuddin Ahmed who presided over the meeting approved the proposal submitted by the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh.
Another proposal by the TCB to purchase 38 lakh litres of soybean oil from the same S Alam Super Refinery at Tk 140 per litre was also approved.
Officials attending the meeting said that the TCB made the proposal of purchasing edible oils from the group without any tender as it was struggling to procure edible oils due to its scarcity.
Besides, the prices were favourable, said the officials.
S Alam Super Refinery, which used to enjoy around one fourth of the county鈥檚 edible oils鈥� market during the now ousted Awami League regime, faced setbacks after the changeover on August 5 amid a student-mass uprising.
S Alam Group chairman Saiful Alam, who is one of the major oligarchs of the deposed Awami regime, has absconded.
The ACC has started an inquiry against the S Alam Group chairman over allegations of laundering money to Singapore.
Janata Bank PLC has also filed a Tk 1,963 crore defaulted loan case against S Alam Group in Chattogram Artha Rin Adalat.
The cabinet committee also approved another TCB proposal to buy 10,000 tonnes of lentil from Nabil Naba Foods Limited under open local tender with each at Tk 95.97 per kilogram.
The finance adviser told the reporters after the meeting that they were purchasing essential items, including edible oils, lentils, fertilisers and liquefied natural gas.
M/S Vitol Asia Pte Ltd, Singapore will supply one cargo of LNG with per unit costing $15.02.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will supply six lakh tonnes of crude oil for Tk 5,208.37 crore and Saudi Arabian Oil Company will supply seven lakh tonnes of light crude oil at Tk 6,025.21 crore.
